Wonderful Journey
by markzilla6895
Summary: I'm continuing terrifel's fanfic. Plot, and OC's belong to her.
1. Jake Moves In

It was just another sunny day in rural Colorado. The sun was shining and although from inside people's homes it looked like it should be about 70 degrees F, in reality in was a blistering 30. It was late afternoon on that particular day. Everyone had either come home from work or were just leaving for the night shift. Otherwise Mayflower Avenue was quiet. There was smoke coming from nearly every chimney on the street; evidently the electric heater wasn't enough to keep the houses warm.

The cold didn't bother one girl, though. The silence of the winter afternoon was broken by the puffing of her breath against the still air. She was skinny, not quite enough to be a model (though people often advertised her to pursue it as a career). Her long, silky raven hair bobbed up and down as she walked. She had big green eyes with dark eyelashes and full lips, and long legs. Arianna, or Ari as she was commonly called, strolled down Mayflower Avenue towards her home on the far end of the cul de sac. She had just finished her Christmas shopping in town and had a bag of assorted items slung over her shoulder. A remote-control car for her younger brother, a sweater her mum had been eyeing earlier that week, and Spongebob pajama bottoms for her Spongebob-freak dad. And, buried at the bottom of the sack, was a small gift she had bought for herself. It was a Stitch plush she had seen in the Disney Store display window and decided to get it. Hey, it was only seven bucks! It was cute, too. It pictured Stitch with reindeer antlers on and a bell collar around his neck. His nose had been dyed red. Even though her mum discouraged her from buying stuffed animals, Ari figured one more plush among about thirty (mostly of Stitch) wouldn't make much of a difference.

And so she made her way up the steps, careful not to slip on the ice, and opened the door slowly. She didn't want her family to notice her coming in so she could wrap the presents in secrecy. Her effort was in vain. Within seconds her little brother was climbing on her like a crazed monkey, asking," What's in the sack? Is it for me? I bet it is! Are you mad? You look mad. You shouldn't be mad, its bad for your face muscles. I learned that in school last week."

Ari slowly made her way away from the doorway with her brother, his arms and legs wrapped around her leg for a ride.

"MUM!" she shouted. "Make Alex go away! I gotta wrap your presents and I can't when he's clinging to my leg!"

Her mum entered the room, a dripping cloth in one hand and a plate in the other. She looked at the scenario in front of her. A teenage girl with a six-year old attached to her leg, occasionally reaching up to try and grab the bag slung over Ari's shoulders. She smiled gently. "Alex, why don't you go look under the tree? I believe Aunt Claire sent you a gift this morning." He immediately let go of Ari's leg and ran into the next room to investigate the gift. The sounds of a shaking box and "Hmmmm"s filled the house.

"Thanks, mum," Ari sighed. She walked up the stairs, the usual _clomp, clomp _echoing through the house. At the top of the stairs she opened a closet to her left. It was filled with shelves of wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, and glitter. Ari chose some wrapping paper and made her way to her room to wrap her gifts. But first she took out the Stitch plush and laid him gently on the edge of her bed with all her other animals. After stepping back to admire her collection she plopped herself down on her rug and began wrapping her presents.

She was on her third present when she heard her mom's voice come up the stairs. "Ari! New neighbors! Quick, down here!" Ari sighed through her nose. Her mother was known as the biggest busy-body on Mayflower Avenue. Ari figured she was the biggest in the city. She would probably have some mission for Ari to go over and see who their new neighbors were. Still, she shoved her wrapped gifts and still-unwrapped gifts under her bed for later and went back down the stairs.

"Alright, Mum. How…" Ari didn't get to finish her sentence. Her mum had interrupted her.

"They've got three kids. One looks about Alex's age but I don't know about the other two. The parents help with carrying the furniture in…that's nice, that shows they aren't stuck-up. Oooo, here's another kid!" her mother said when a boy with light brown hair came out of the house to help with the furniture. "He looks like…"

Ari had stopped listening to her mother a long time ago. This boy was probably just like all the other boys at her school. Snobby and arrogant. So she quietly slipped away from the window and tried to make her way upstairs without her mum noticing. She had almost made it to the top when her mum called," Ari!"

"Oh, no," Ari mumbled under her breath. She made he way back down the stairs for the second time that day to find her mum holding a can of grape jam.

"Please take this over there. It's nice for neighbors to show that everyone is welcome on Mayflower Avenue." Her mum was talking in a fake nice voice that always got on Ari's, and everyone else's, nerves.

"I don't understand why you don't just go over there yourself," Ari said politely.

"Because I don't have good people skills," her mother said quickly, almost too quickly. Ari sighed again and took the jam from her mother. She hated going over to new people's houses. The people who had lived in that house before these people moved in had been wackos. Every full moon they would find a cat, stray or no stray, and field-dress it in the back yard within a circle of rocks. They claimed it 'cleansed their inner spirit'. Yeah. Weird.

Ari was determined to make this meeting as quick as possible. Go, give them the jelly, and leave. Boom. She hurried across the street and waited outside the door for someone from the family to come out, preferably the mother. Mothers always accepted gifts from neighbors without questions. Fathers took the gift, looked at it for a moment in a funny way, said thanks and slammed the door in your face, and kids whined and complained if the gift wasn't a toy.

And so Ari waited, nodding to some of the movers politely as they walked past. Finally someone came out. But it wasn't who she had expected. It was the boy she had seen from her front window! She stammered as she tried to come up with what to say.

"Um, uh, here's some jam for you, and, um, er…" she must've looked like a fool.

But the boy took the jam from her and chuckled. "Busy-body mom?" he asked simply.

"Uh, yeah," Ari said with relief. At least he knew it wasn't her idea to come over there. "My mom likes to give new neighbors gifts."

The boy chuckled again. "Same with mine. Believe me, in about two days everyone's houses on the street will have baskets filled with fruit sitting on their doorstep. Delivered personally by moi."

Ari stared at this new boy. From her experience boys were mean, selfish brats who cared about nothing but Halo 2. She might just grow to like this one. She shook herself from her trance and said suddenly without thinking," Would you like a tour of my house?" She stopped and realized how stupid that sounded. "Well, uh, you don't…have to if you don't wanna, but, er…"

The boy only laughed. "Sure, I'll come."

The lump in Ari's throat seemed to vanish. With a jittery heart she began to walk back to her house with the boy in tow.

"I'm Jake." The boy said.

"Ari."

They had reached Ari's house by that time. They entered the home and as they passed by Ari's mum she gave her a thumbs-up. Ari raised an eye-brow at her.

"This is the living room and kitchen down here," Ari said with her arms spread out. "Beautiful, isn't it?" she added sarcastically.

"I think it's cool," Jake said caually.

The boy and girl headed upstairs towards the bedrooms and single bathroom. "Not much to see up here," Ari said. "Just the bedrooms and stuff." Jake paid her no heed and walked towards Ari's closed door.

"Oh, don't go in there! It's…" Jake had already opened the door and entered. Ari quickly followed with her cheeks beet red. Jake had found her Stitch-covered room. "Yeah, um, I like Stitch a lot." She quickly added," But not in THAT way, I mean…" she stopped. Why wasn't Jake laughing? She had expected him to laugh at such a "baby obsession" as her dad put it. But he simply walked over to her plushie pile and picked up her latest addition to it.

"So… you like Lilo and Stitch?" he said slowly.

"Yeah."

"Interesting," Jake said softly under his breath. "Very interesting."

"What's interesting?" Ari asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing." Jake answered and he quickly put the plushie down. "I better get going. My parents will want me to help with the carrying-in and all."

"Yeah," Ari said sadly. For some reason se couldn't understand she didn't want him to go.

"Bye." Jake waved and left her room, leaving her among all the Stitch posters, plushies, and action figures.

"Bye," she said softly. After she heard the door open and close, indicating that Jake had left, she went back into the kitchen, where her mum was making supper.

"Mum?" Ari asked.

"Yes, dear?" her mother answered. There was something in her tone that told her what was coming.

"I feel funny. Like there's butterflies in my stomach, and when I'm around Jake my head feels really light. Am I sick?"

Her mother smiled to herself. "No, Ari. I believe you have something called a crush."

"A crush?" Ari had heard girls at school talk about their oh-so-cute crushes, but she never suspected she would have one. "A…crush?" she repeated.

Meanwhile, back at Jake's house…

"Jake, have you been finding person to try out machine?" an all-too-familiar Russian voice spoke through a watch on Jake's wrist.

"Yes, sir." Jake answered somewhat smugly. "I believe I have found you the perfect candidate."


	2. Attack of the Puffy Spores

"Jumba!" Lilo called through the door. "What are you doing?"

The evil genius quickly closed out of the file on his computer and logged off. "Is doing nothing, little girl!" he shouted back.

Lilo opened the door with a creak and entered his "lab", closely followed by Stitch. "Good. Because Stitch and I found two more experiment pods for you." She laid them proudly on the table in front of them.

"Ah, are being experiments 159 and 301!" Jumba exclaimed. He went to his computer to see what they did. After a few moments he declared," 159 designed to create brilliant sculptures from clay. And… 301 to mow lawn." He walked back over to the table, picked the pods up carefully and placed them in a safe place for now.

"But what _were_ you doing, Jumba?" Lilo questioned. "I heard your computer beep." She eyed his computer warily.

"Ih," Stitch agreed. "Canjanooga."

Jumba answered very quickly. "Is being nothing for you to be worrying about, little girl and 626. Now, be getting along." He shooed them out the door, almost pushing them at times. On the other side of Jumba's door, Lilo looked at Stitch for a moment, then they both shrugged and walked away from his lab.

After he was sure Lilo and Stitch were well away from the door Jumba returned to his computer. After logging on he reopened the file he was examining before Lilo asked what he was doing. It read "Formula for Dimension-Clashing Spores" at the top. After determining it was to his satisfaction he closed out again and went to find something to eat.

Lilo and Stitch watched him as he got out some leftover chicken from last night's dinner from around the corner. Both of them knew he _had _been doing something on his computer, and he didn't want anyone to know about it. Well, Jumba didn't want anyone to know about a lot of things, but Lilo was determined to find out what this was about.

"Ok, Stitch," Lilo whispered. "He's not looking. If we're careful we can sneak through the kitchen into the hallway."

Stitch shook his head. "Naga through kitchen." As Lilo looked at Stitch with her eyebrows raised, he smiled. "_Over _kitchen." Without waiting for Lilo to answer he picked her up and walked up the wall and onto the ceiling without a sound. At the far end of the kitchen he leapt to the ground and put Lilo down. Jumba hadn't noticed a thing and went on eating his chicken.

"Great, Stitch!" Lilo whispered loudly. "Now c'mon." She and Stitch crept down the hallway and when they thought they were out of Jumba's earshot they ran to the end of the hall. Lilo jumped into Jumba's swivelchair after they entered his lab.

"Good thing he forgot to log off when he went to get the chicken." Lilo said. "Now let's see… which file is it?" She searched through all his documents. "Hey, he's got all your guys' formulas in here!" she exclaimed to Stitch, who leaped onto the table to get a better look. "Let's find yours." She scrolled down (which took a very long time) until she got to the file "626".

"Man, what are all these things?" Lilo asked in bewilderment. "Snacklebeast? Cornweap? Hey! He used a puppy to make you! Well, that explains a few things… But where'd he get a puppy on Turo?" Her thoughts were interrupted by a gargling sound from the kitchen.

"Uh, oh, Stitch. We'd better get out of here. That's sound means Jumba's gargling his milk. We can come back later." She quickly hopped off the swivel-chair and ran from the room with Stitch in tow, forgetting to close Stitch's file. They walked past Jumba, who was now putting what was left of the chicken back in the fridge. Actually it was barely more than the bones. (Hours later Pleakley would scold Jumba for putting "dog food" in the fridge). Anyway, Lilo and Stitch tried to look casual.

"We're going to the beach, Jumba." Lilo said in what she hoped was an innocent voice.

"Ih," Stitch nodded. "Sandcastles."

Jumba said nothing. He just looked at the two of them, Lilo first, then Stitch, and then back to Lilo again. He then mouthed the word "Ok" and returned to his lab. Lilo sighed in relief, then plopped herself down on the couch.

"Gaba?" Stitch asked sadly. "Naga beach?"

"Are you kidding, Stitch?" Lilo exclaimed. "We gotta stick around and see what that file was about!" Stitch dropped his ears sadly. "It could be about one of your cousins." Stitch perked up at that thought.

"Stitch do anything for cousin." Lilo smiled and set her head back on the armrest of the soft, comfy couch.

In Jumba's Lab…

"Hmmm, what have we here?" Jumba asked himself as he looked through Lilo's doings. "Looks like little girl and 626 have been doing some mischief-making. Ah, well." He was about to close out of Stitch's formula file when a strange, even twisted thought entered his already weird mind. He scratched his chin as he thought. "I wonder…" he whispered. Instead of closing out, he right-clicked and selected "copy". He opened the "secret file" and pasted Stitch's formula to the top of it.

"There," he said with satisfaction. "Now to send to Jake." Jumba went to the top of the screen and selected a button that read "E-mail." He then selected Jake's e-mail address (which will be hidden for paparazzi reasons) and sent the formula to him.

"I hope machines work with new addition…" he closed out of the files and made sure he logged off this time. "No one will be snooping now," he said proudly to himself. He stood up from the chair, which rose about two feet after he did, yawned, and decided to take a quick nap on the couch after all that "evil genius work".

Ari tossed and turned in her bed. She couldn't sleep no matter how hard she tried. Jake kept somehow creeping into her thoughts. She liked him much better than any boy she had ever met. But… there was something about him that… just creeped her out. Like when he had found out she was obsessed with Stitch a gleam had come into his eyes that Ari didn't like. Still, he had a warmth about him that had a friendly feel. She shook her head to rid the thoughts. _You're freaking out, Ari. _She thought to herself. _You're just thinking about the other wacko neighbors and are paranoid that they'll be like them. But c'mon, how many families can possibly be as weird as that one? Besides, mum said she thought the parents were nice. _

With that comforting thought in her mind she managed to roll back over and get some sleep as the night closed in around her. Tomorrow she would ask Jake to go to the Christmas Dance at her school. Little did she know that she would never get the chance.

At Jake's house…

"Wow, this is complicated…" Jake whispered as he scrolled through the e-mail he had just received. When he answered Jumba's ad for a helper he hadn't expected everything to be so… odd. Jumba had somehow managed to send him a laser-thing that turned everything that it was waved over into real-life. The package had come with a note written sloppily, as if the pen-holder's fingers were too big for the pen.

"Don't use this until I tell you to!

Jumba"

Jake had thought it weird to send him such an other-worldy thing, but he had just shrugged and kept it in his closet. Now he needed it. In Jumba's previous e-mail he had written to use the laser on his next e-mail Jake received.

So he walked over to his closet and picked up the dust-covered yellow laser from the floor. Jake doubted it even worked; he was beginning to get suspicious of this guy. After all, why would he send him an e-mail containing a file titled "Dimension- Clashing Spores"? Still, orders were orders, and he printed out the file. After examining the laser for a moment he aimed it at the piece of paper and fired.

A brilliant orange light burst from the barrel of the laser and hit the file. After a stunned moment of silence, the piece of paper began to burn. However, instead of the flames being reddish hues, they were black. Jake looked at the burning paper in amazement. Mostly his wonder came from the fact that the fire was black, but some of it was because as the paper burned and turned to ash, the ash particles became little puffy, black spores that floated through, and I mean _through_, Jake's window and made their way towards Ari's house as they were programmed to do. When all the paper was burned and the spores had formed a small black cloud rushing towards Ari's bedroom window Jake looked at what happened next through his own window.

The spores went through Ari's window in eerie silence. For a moment Jake didn't see anything and he held his breath. Then, out of nowhere, a bright purple flash cam from Ari's window. The flash lasted for about ten seconds and ranged in colors from lavender to red to green to red. Then, as soon as it started, it was over.

"Oh, God, what have I done to Ari?" Jake whispered in horror. His breath came in little pants and beads of sweat rolled down his face.

He heard a beep from the watch on his wrist. "Has program been completed?" the voice came eagerly.

Jake slowly lifted the watch to his face, his eyes never leaving Ari's house. "Y-y-yes, sir. B-but what happened to Ari?"

Jumba's voice came through reassuringly. "Do not worry. Big girl is safe. You will see."

Jake didn't have time to ponder what the genius's words meant, as his vision went black and he lost consciousness as a glowing emerald-green light flashed around him. And there, disappearing into thin air, were the couple of spores that caused his sudden loss of consciousness. Their job was done.


	3. Waking to a New World

When Ari woke up the next morning with the sun blaring in her eyes and crashing waves ringing in her ears, her first thought was, _this isn't my bedroom…_ And indeed it wasn't. She sat up unsteadily and squinted her eyes to get a better look around. After a few minutes of examination (her head hurt so it took longer) she found that she was lying on a sunny beach about five feet from the water. She was alone, had no idea where she was exactly, and she for some reason she had a primal fear of the water. She thought it odd that she was afraid of water, as she was on the varsity swim team back home.

_But this is salt water, _she thought. _Maybe it has a different effect on your brain. _Hey, she'd never been around the ocean before so she wouldn't know. She got shakily to her legs, and for a moment she feared she fall back down again. Her legs seemed… off-balance for some reason, as if they were shorter than they should've been. _I must've hit my head harder than I thought._ But she eventually found her center of balance. It was low-tide, and a few tide pools dotted the shore line, each ranging in size and shape, even the blueness of the water varied in each one.

Ari walked over to the tide pool nearest her to cool off, but had to stop every few steps as her head began to swim if she stood for too long.

"Oh, what's wrong with me?" she said out loud with her head in her hands. "I knew I shouldn't have had those left-over cheese curds before bed. Now I'm hallucinating." She somehow managed to muster the strength to crawl over to the tide pool and splashed water over her face. But as she was bringing the water to her face for the second time, Ari paused and looked at her hands with wide eyes and let the water she was carrying fall back into the pool.

"No…" Ari whispered. "It can't be… I-it's impossible!" But there was no mistaking the paws she was looking at that used to be her hands. Each digit had a long claw that extended from the end and the paws were covered with fur. Ari's heart was pounding by now and she looked into the tide pool, afraid of what her reflection might look like. She was right to be concerned. Looking back at her was a very Stitch-like creature, only light purple and instead of having extra arms and spikes, all she had were antennae with purple-glowing tips.

She stepped back from the tide pool in horror and let out a blood-curling scream.

(At Lilo's house)

"Did you hear something?" Jumba asked with his hand cupped over his ear.

"It's just the radiator," Pleakley answered calmly and resumed cleaning the counter top.

(Back at the Beach)

Ari continued to scream for a good ten seconds, and when she was done she hoped she had woken herself up from this nightmare. But one more look into the pool confirmed that the nightmare was still there and it was real.

"Ok, I like Lilo and Stitch, but this is just _creepy!" _Ari exclaimed. She felt good enough after her scream to think clearly now. After a good long look into the pool it seemed that she was a pinkish purple color. Her stomach was a lighter purple, as well as the fur around her eyes. Her nose, claws, and toes were a deep royal purple. The skin inside her ears was light pink, and there was a nick on the upper part of both ears. Her eyes were the traditional black. After much twisting and turning she was able to make out a large, dark purple splotch on her back, and after pulling out a few hairs from the back of her head she could say the same there. The tips of her antennae seemed to be fiber-optic, as when she woke up it glowed orange, but now it was a soft lavender color.

"Ok," she said to herself in a matter-of-fact way. "I've been turned into an experiment, I have no idea why, or who did it, and don't know where I am." She paused for a moment. "Well I'd say we're off to a fine start."

(At Lilo's House)

Jumba's computer blinked and turned on. "Experiments 623 and 622 activated. Primary Functions: Unknown"

Jumba, who had been working on fixing one of his plasma guns, walked over to the beeping computer, and scratched his chin.

"Could it be them already?" he asked no one. He opened the door out into the hall. "Little girl! 626! Be coming in here!" he shouted. About five seconds later Lilo and Stitch were standing in front of him with expectant looks on their faces.

"Which one is it this time, Jumba?" Lilo asked eagerly as they entered his room.

"Is being two experiments, little girl. 623 and 622," Jumba answered. He showed them the computer, which was now showing two diagrams of the experiments. One had glowing antennae, and the other had a long tail with a spike at the end of it.

"Well, what do they do, Jumba?" Lilo asked impatiently. She was already getting out a glass tube.

Jumba shifted his extra-large feet nervously. "I, er, am not knowing what abilities are…"

Lilo and Stitch looked at Jumba in surprise. "Gaba?" Stitch asked with an eyebrow raised.

Jumba quickly made up a lie. "When I created them they refused to do anything." He knew it was a bad lie, but Lilo and Stitch bought it.

"Well, it doesn't sound like they're evil," Lilo said happily. "C'mon, Stitch! If we hurry we can go and be back before Nani gets home!" It was obvious she was getting cocky.

Stitch growled. "Gantu."

Lilo frowned. "Oh, yeah." She stood up straighter. "We better get going! He could be halfway there already!" With that they were gone from the room. Jumba heard the front door slam. "Oh, boy…" he whispered anxiously. "What am I to be telling them when little girl finds out?"

Ari walked down the beach awkwardly. Her new short legs worked differently than her old ones and she wasn't quite used to it yet. She heard voices up ahead, indicating she was near a tourist's beach. She walked over to a palm tree tried to climb it. After climbing about five feet she slid back down to the ground. She slapped herself for forgetting she had claws now. Using her razor-sharp claws, she quickly scaled the tree. She wasn't afraid of heights, but she had never climbed a tree this high before and sitting at the top of a palm tree waving in the breeze can make one a little queasy.

Ari sat in the middle of the tree where all the branches came together. About a quarter mile away she could see the beach she had heard before. She could see little kids swimming in the ocean, while the parents tanned on the sand. She even thought she could make out the fat, sunburned tourist with ice cream. But sure enough, two kids accidentally bumped into him, causing his ice cream to fall to the ground.

"Poor guy," Ari said with sympathy. Her eyes were suddenly diverted from the beach scene. She had heard something to her left in the woods. It sounded like thunder, but it occurred steadily, like giant footsteps.

"Uh-oh…" Ari whispered. "I better get out of here." She slid back down the trunk of the tree and made her way towards… towards what? She didn't have anywhere to go, other towards the woods where Gantu was!

"Dang! What do I do now?" Ari stomped on the sand angrily. She suddenly heard a tree snap, and out of the woods came the whale himself. Ari let primal instinct take over and she bolted down the beach, right towards a rock wall that was impossible to scale.

"Come back here, abomination!" Gantu shouted.

_Honestly, does he actually expect experiments to do what he says? _Ari thought with a slight chuckle. But her pleasure was short-lived. She had reached the wall and skidded to a stop just before she hit it face-first.

She quickly turned around to find that Gantu had stopped too. "Ha! You have nowhere to go! Now be a good little trog and get into the tube." He opened one of the containment tubes.

Ari decided to try he luck with the truth. "Look, you don't understand! I'm not really an experiment. I'm a human and I was turned into an experiment by some weird force last night and I don't wanna go to Hamsterveil!" She had backed herself up against the wall and now she was pushing her back against it.

Gantu seemed to falter for a moment, but then said, "Yeah, right. Now some here or I'll…"

Suddenly someone new was in front of Ari, using its body to shield her. It was an emerald green Stitch-like experiment with a long, thin tail that had an ivory spike at the end of it. "Leave her alone, fish-face," the experiment said angrily.

Ari gasped in surprise. "Jake?" she exclaimed. Could it be him? It was his voice, after all.

The green experiment seemed to ignore her and went on telling Gantu off. "If you touch her, I swear I will hurt you." His long tail switched dangerously.

Gantu seemed unphased by the experiment's threats. He just laughed and said," Perfect! Another experiment to take to Hamsterveil! If you'll just hop into this tube I won't have to use this against you." He aimed his giant plasma gun at the two and cocked it.

"And if you'll go away I won't have to do… THIS!" the green experiment lashed its tail out and wrapped it around the gun. Then it wretched the gun out of Gantu's grasp with a surprised "Hey!" from Gantu. It threw the gun far away on the beach. Gantu glared at the green experiment for a moment, then started off after his gun.

The experiment grabbed Ari's hand and said," C'mon, over here." He led her away from the wall into the woods while Gantu . Ari didn't know how long they ran for, but while they were running she called out," Are you Jake?"

The experiment seemed to flinch for moment, and then answered," Yeah, it's me." That was all he got in, for a blast of plasma had knocked both of them off their feet. Ari felt the wind get knocked out of her and as she gasped for breath she felt Jake let go of her hand.

A glass tube covered her and she thought _This is it. Gantu's got me. _But she was surprised to hear a very welcome, familiar voice call out," Aloha, cousin!" She perked her ears up and stood up inside the tube. Stitch was hugging the outside of the tube with a plasma gun in his hand! It was probably the same one used to shoot them with. Ari knew she should be surprised to see him, and angry and shooting them, but strangely she only felt relief sweep over her. But the relief was pushed away by a pang of fear for her rescuer. She looked over to the place where Jake had landed. He was inside his own glass tube, and he wasn't moving. He must've hit his head when he landed.

Ari suddenly noticed Lilo get out of a buggy not far from where she, Jake, and Stitch were. "Great, Stitch! You get 623 and I'll get 622." She walked over to where Jake was laying inside his tube and picked it up with a grunt. At the same time Stitch picked Ari's tube up and she felt herself being carried over to the buggy. Lilo and Stitch put both of their tubes in the back of the buggy and they themselves got in the front. With a rumble of the engine they were off towards Lilo's house.

Ari pressed her paws up against the side of the tube. "Jake?" she whispered. "Jake?" she said a little louder. It was no use. He was unconscious inside his tube, occasionally jolting to the movements of the buggy.

Ari was extremely happy and grateful she wasn't captured by Gantu, but at the same time she was angry at Lilo and Stitch for hurting the thing that had rescued her. With a sigh, she sat down in her tube and watched the beach roll on behind them, wondering what would be in store for them when they got to their destination.


	4. Jumba's Confession

Ari said nothing as the tube she was in was lifted from the buggy by Stitch. The tube lurched forward as he steadied it over his head, and Ari felt her stomach contract.

"Hey, take it easy, will ya?" she said to Stitch.

Stitch looked up at her while he was walking towards the house. "Sorry, cousin." He sounded like he really meant it, so Ari let the subject drop. Her fear after being turned into an experiment had subsided into anger for her captors and concern for Jake. She looked to her right, where Lilo was carrying, with some difficulty, the tube that held Jake. He still hadn't woken up and a small lump had begun to form on his head where he had hit it. Ari was beginning to worry how serious his injuries were.

"Lilo!" Ari jerked her head towards where the voice had come from. Nani was standing at the door with her arms crossed over her chest. "How many times have I told you not to bring experiments into the house?" She sounded exasperated.

"But Nani!" Lilo whined. "Jumba doesn't even know what they do and this one," she pointed at Jake," can't do anything bad 'cause he's asleep!"

"Asleep?" Ari cried angrily. "You shot him with a plasma gun and knocked him out!" She glared at Lilo.

Lilo seemed to ignore her comment as most people seemed to be doing and instead pointed at the tips of my antennae. "Cool! They changed to red!" Ari grabbed one and held it down in front of her eyes. Indeed, they had changed to a bright red color. But now, even as she looked at it it was changing back to lavender.

"We gotta get Jumba!" Lilo said happily. Ari didn't know why she was happy. She wasn't too happy about the situation. Lilo ran up the steps, past Nani, who just shook her head and sighed, and into the house. Stitch followed suit. Again the tube rocked back and forth as he climbed the steps, but Ari didn't say anything about it. She was too busy trying to keep her vomit down in her stomach.

Inside the house they past Pleakley, who was wearing a lacy apron and chef's hat. He appeared to be making some type of pie, except the filling he used looked like he had gotten it from the toilet. Ari wrinkled her face up at the sight, but her vision was obscured by a wall they had past.

"Jumba!" Lilo cried as they ran down the hall. Ari felt her heart lift a little. If anyone could help her get out of this mess, it was Jumba.

Jumba poked his head outside the door to his lab and his face paled at the sight f Ari and Jake.

"Ah, be the bringing in 622 and 623," he said, obviously trying to hide the nervousness in his voice. Ari wondered why.

"This one's got a bump on his head. Can you fix him?" Lilo asked while handing the tube that held Jake to Jumba.

Jumba took the tube and gently set it down next to his bed. "Yes, will be fixing 622, little girl. But first must be telling you something that I think will answer a lot of questions for 623." Everyone who was conscious in the room looked at him curiously. Jumba seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if considering whether to go on or not. But his good side go the better of him and he continued with his story.

"Is little girl and 626 remembering when asking what I was doing earlier today?" Lilo and Stitch nodded, while Ari wondered what the heck this was about. "This is the file was looking at." Jumba opened the file that contained the spores. Lilo and Stitch both looked at the title and gasped.

"You brought 622 and 623 from another dimension?" Lilo asked with awe in her voice. "You must've been afraid they would be so powerful that you wanted to be rid of them for good! I wonder…" Lilo was interrupted by Jumba.

"No, is not exactly what was to be happening," Jumba gulped. Meanwhile, pieces of the puzzle were starting to be put together for Ari. "See, I was designing new machines to invest people and bring them to new dimension. But, I needed helper from other dimension to activate machines. So I hired someone," his eyes turned to Jake and for a moment," and I, er…" Ari, who had finished the puzzle, interrupted his sentence with fury in her voice.

"_You _brought me here." Her teeth were clenched together. "_You _made me leave behind everything I knew to bring me here to be one of your stupid experiments!" She knew it was harsh, but what would you expect her to be like towards someone who had brought her to another dimension? The tips of her antennae her glowing bright red again, although they were much brighter than they were before when she had been angry at Lilo.

Lilo and Stitch looked at Jumba in horror. The fact of the situation had finally hit them. "You brought them from another DIMENSION?" Lilo shouted. "And they weren't even experiments? They were PEOPLE?"

Poor Stitch looked confused about the whole thing. He kept looking from Ari to Jake to Ari again with his mouth slightly open.

Lilo seemed very angry at Jumba. "So now what are you going to do? Keep them here?"

Jumba waved his hands up defensively. "Oh, no, little girl! Spores will wear off in about a week. In meantime, I will set about fixing 622." He seemed to be looking for any excuse to escape Lilo's wrath. He quickly opened up the tube with Jake, or 622 as Jumba called him, in it and left the room.

Lilo sighed heavily and looked at Ari. "Sorry about this. Ah, er, it's so strange talking to an experiment that's supposed to be a person…"

"Don't remind me…" Ari muttered with her ears drooped. The tips of her antennae were now a soft blue color. She sighed and asked while looking at the bottom of the tube," Is he gonna be ok? Jake, I mean."

"Jake?" Lilo cocked her head in confusion. "Oh, you mean the green experiment person-thing! Yeah, he'll be fine. Jumba has his ways." Ari didn't seem convinced, so Lilo simply said," Trust me."

_Oh, yeah, that's reeeeally convincing. _Ari thought bitterly. But she knew Lilo was doing her best a ten-year-old could do to make her feel better so she didn't say anything about it.

"Would it be alright if I let you out of this?" Lilo said, obviously talking about the tube. "I mean, you aren't going to run away or anything, are you?" Ari rolled her eyes.

"Where am I going to run to?" she said quietly. Lilo shrugged and unscrewed the lid. Ari climbed out on her own and sat down on the table, concentrating on a certain grain in the wood to avoid Lilo and Stitch's piercing gaze.

She wished Lilo and Stitch would go away. She didn't like it when people looked at her all at once, especially when she wasn't even in her proper form. To give them a hint that she wanted to be alone she turned around so her back was to them. Lilo took the hint and signaled to Stitch to leave Ari alone. She took Stitch's paw and leg him out the door. With a last look at Ari, Stitch walked out.

Ari sighed and looked around the room. In one corner were Pleakley and Jumba's beds. Jumba's (she assumed) was unmade and XXXL clothes were strewn around the bed. Pleakley's didn't have one wrinkle on it. Every piece of clothing was inside the dresser. Ari doubted there was a speck of dust in that area. On the other side of the room were all of Jumba's inventions either hanging on the wall or were on the table either for tune-up or finishing.

Ari thought about that day's events. She thought about waking up as an experiment, almost getting captured by Gantu, getting rescued by Jake, and getting caught by Lilo and Stitch. The thoughts were almost overbearing and Ari had to bite her lip to keep the tears back. To shove the thoughts to the back of her mind she began to do something she had done whenever she felt sad ever since she was little. She began to sing her favorite song.

When you're sad  
>When you're feeling low<br>When you're hurt and don't know where to go.  
>Think of me-<br>There I'll be  
>Anytime you need a friend.<p>

She wasn't the best singer, but she was pretty good. When she was done singing she was surprised to hear soft clapping to her right. She looked in surprise and there was Stitch with a tentative smile on his face. He scooted a little closer to Ari.

"Like to sing?" he asked.

Ari sniffed and gulped. "Yeah…" she said softly.

"You're good."

Ari managed a small smile. "Thanks."

Stitch rubbed the back of his head with his hand, as if not sure of what to say. After a few minutes of silence he said," Isa Oketaka, er…" he hesitated again.

"Ari," she said, hoping it would answer the question in his voice.

"Ari," he nodded. "Jumba fix friend. Sleeping in Stitch's room now. Will be awake in morning."

When Ari didn't do or say anything he withdrew a burger from behind his back. "Stitch thought you might like this." He set in down gingerly at Ari's feet, then jumped down from the table with a thump. With a last look at Ari, he left the room.

Ari was glad Stitch had brought her a burger, and picked it up from the table. After sniffing it for a moment (Pleakley could have made it), she took a bite.


	5. Ari's Powers

"Shhhh…" Lilo whispered as Ari watched Jake from the doorway of the elevator. It was morning in the Pelekai household and even though she couldn't remember, Ari figured she must've fallen asleep on the table last night. Sunlight streamed in through every window in the house, and Ari's spirits lifted just a bit. "He's still sleeping," Lilo continued. Ari nodded to show she understood not to wake him. She stepped out of the elevator so Lilo could return to the main floor.

Some of her anger had worn off since she had found out it was Jumba who had made her come here, and she felt a bit guilty at bursting out at him like that. After all, he _had _taken care of Jake and he seemed to feel bad about making them come here. Oh well, she would apologize to him next time she saw him.

She padded over to Stitch's bed where Jake was sound asleep under the warm covers. He looked so… different… as an experiment. His long tail extended off the edge of the bed and twitched slightly every few seconds. The covers rose and fell with the rhythm of his slow breathing. Ari pulled the covers from his chest up to his neck, keeping her sharp claws away from his face. When he squirmed in bed she quickly withdrew her paws and held her breath, hoping she didn't wake him up.

He slowly opened his eyes about halfway and turned to face her. His face seemed to screw up like he was going to cry. "Ari… I'm sorry…" he whispered. He looked up at her with those big black eyes and bit his lip.

Ari was about to ask what he was sorry about, but he had rolled over and gone back to sleep. She decided her question would just have to wait. As quietly as she could she tiptoed over to the elevator and went down to the main floor, her head swarming with questions she felt she would never have answered.

She decided she would apologize to Jumba right now just to get the weight off her chest. She walked down the hall towards the room where (she presumed) Jumba was. As she walked she saw a small picture hanging up on the wall in a simple frame. It was the picture of Lilo and Nani with their mum and dad. There was also a picture of Stitch attached to it. Ari paused and admired the picture for a moment. It made her realize how much she missed her own family. _I hope they're having a good Christmas… _she thought grimly.

She pushed the thought to the back of her head when she heard a voice coming from Jumba's room. "We'll get rid of this…" there was the sound of his computer beeping. Ari walked up to the doorway and looked into the room.

"Er… Jumba?"

Jumba gasped and jumped in his chair and twisted around to look at Ari. "Oh, 623, it is being you." He turned around and resumed his computer-tinkering. Ari didn't like interrupting his, as he would say, evil genius work, but she would have to apologize sooner or later.

"Jumba?" she tried again. "I'm sorry I got so mad at you earlier… It's just that… nothing like this has ever happened to me before and where I come from this is all…" she was going to say TV show, but figured that would freak him out. The last thing she needed right now was to freak out the one person that could get her home. "Never mind. I miss my family too and they're probably worried sick about me right now."

Jumba turned around in his chair again. He was smiling slightly. "Ah, is not to be worrying, 623. There is…"

Ari interrupted him. "Why do you keep calling me 623?" There was a hint of annoyance in her voice. "My name's Ari."

"Oh. Well, ok… Ari," Jumba replied. "As I was saying, there is time difference in dimensions so…" he turned back to his computer and typed some stuff in it. "A day here is being… minute in your dimension!" He leaned back on his chair triumphantly.

"How did you figure that out?" Ari asked, a note of awe in her voice.

"I am evil genius, Ari, and evil geniuses have ways," Jumba said proudly.

Ari rolled her eyes. "So, by the time I get home only seven minutes will have passed?"

"Yes, unless I am being very much mistaken."

Ari felt like she could walk on air in that moment. Her heart seemed to relax and she took a deep breath.

"Now," Jumba said crisply. "Is that all questions for now?"

"Er… yeah, I think so."

Jumba smiled again. "Alright. 626!" he shouted.

About five seconds later Stitch entered the room carrying a plasma gun and some other stuff Ari didn't recognize.

"What's this for?" she asked, obviously confused.

"Is being time for finding out what powers are," Jumba replied simply. When Ari didn't say anything he added, "So you don't blow things up on accident."

Now it was Ari's turn to smile. "You mean I can _do _things like Stitch"

"As long as you are experiment, yes. Now be following me. You too, 626."

They made their way through the house and out into the backyard. Ari was amazed to find that an obstacle course had been set up, including hurdles and tubes to crawl through. Their were also several weights to her far right.

"Wow!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Am I gonna run this?" She had always been a sucker for obstacle courses.

"First is seeing how much of 626's abilities you have. You is having his DNA, after all." Jumba was fiddling with his own plasma gun.

This was a new take on things. "You used his DNA on me?"

"Indeed I did. Come over here." Jumba motioned for her to stand about fifteen feet in front of him and Stitch.

"Dodge as many as these plasma blasts as you can," Jumba directed. Before Ari could object, they were firing the first round. She jumped over the first one, only to be met with one heading for her face. She threw her paws up in instinct and was surprised to find that she had caught it! It felt like warm, green Jell-O in her paws. She dropped it to the ground where it disintegrated.

Jumba nodded approvingly. "So can dodge and catch plasma blasts. Let's be seeing how much you can lift." He motioned to the many weights, some weighing up to 5,000 pounds.

"Um, can I start on something small? I don't wanna get squashed." Ari said nervously.

Jumba nodded. "Lift that 500 pound one." Ari was surprised to find that she could lift it with almost no effort.

"Now try the 2,000 pound one."

Ari did. It was considerably heavier than the first one, but she could still lift it relatively easily. After trying several weights they found that she could lift up to 1,500 times her size. Even Jumba had to be amazed, and Stitch clapped approvingly.

They tried several more tests, including the hurdles. She jumped over them easily, even though they were a foot higher than they were.

Ari was getting tired and Jumba finally said, "Ok, last one." He picked up his plasma gun again. "Instead of dodging and catching these, focus on them stopping instead." Ari wasn't sure what he meant, but nodded slowly.

Stitch picked his gun up too. They fired their blasts and Ari focused her energy on them. Nothing seemed to happen and Ari feared she would be hit, but was surprised to see the blasts bounce off something invisible in front of her and hit the ground.

"What the...!" Ari exclaimed. "How did I do that?" She reached out and her paw pressed against something. Ripples of colorful light drifted away from her paw like water.

"Is force field!" Jumba said happily. "I am guessing you can create force fields to deflect attacks!" He wiped his arm on his forehead. "Well, I am being going to rest. 626, stay and train her a bit."

Stitch seemed more than happy to stay outside with Ari. The sun rose high into the sky and they had fun. Stitch would find random outfits to throw at Ari, and Ari would try to create a shield. Sometimes it didn't work and the items hit her, but they never hit her hard enough to hurt. It was these times that Stitch would prance around the yard proudly and taunt her, calling out stuff in Turian like, "Feeboogoo!" Ari knew it meant "Bring it on." She would then pick up a small stone and hurl it at him. She always laughed at the look on his face when it bounced off his head.

High above them, staring out the window of Lilo and Stitch's room at the two, was Jake. He sighed and walked away from the window. He had been surprised when he had woken up yesterday to find himself an experiment, but he, unlike Ari, was sure of the culprit. When he heard Ari's shouts he had hurried to help her. It was partly because he felt he owed her for what had happened, but some of him felt that if he proved himself worthy, maybe she would like him. Ever since she had turned up at his house with the jam he had thought she was pretty, and his feelings hadn't changed now that she was an alien.

_But now, _he thought sadly,_ apparentlyStitch likes her too. _His spirits were low when he crawled back into Stitch's bed. After all, what chance did he have against the creature that adorned Ari's room?


	6. A Sleepover at Lilo's House

It was just after dusk when Ari and Stitch went back inside. They had played all afternoon and were now exhausted. Ari was excited to see if Jake was awake, too.

"Hey, Stitch?" she asked him. "I'm gonna go see if Jake's awake yet. Thanks for a great day!" She hugged him, much to his surprise, and then ran ahead of him into the house, almost running into a very flustered-looking Pleakley.

"Oops… Sorry!" she called back to him as she ran towards the elevator. Pleakley looked from her to Stitch, and then walked back towards the kitchen.

Ari was excited as the elevator took her up to Stitch's room. But her excitement decreased when she saw Jake sound asleep in his bed. "Strange… I thought Stitch said he would be awake today… I wanted to talk to him." She went back downstairs.

Jake opened an eye and stared at the same place Ari had been in only seconds earlier. He had heard every word she had said. "She wants to talk to me?" he said to himself. "I'd better not disappoint her!" He crawled out of bed and made his way towards the elevator. He was stopped short when he felt a tug in his rear end. He turned around to find that his tail had somehow wrapped itself around the bedpost.

"Stupid tail…" he muttered to himself as he attempted to untie it. "What good do they serve anyway?"

Several frustrating minutes later he emerged from the bottom of the elevator with a knot-free tail. He heard talking coming from the front room. Peeking his head around the corner he could see Lilo, Stitch and Ari sitting on the sofa watching a movie. He walked slowly over to the couch.

Ari saw him coming out of the corner of her eye and turned her head his way. "Jake!" she cried happily. "You're awake!" She jumped off the couch and approached him. "You feeling ok?" There was a note of concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Why do you ask?" Jake replied coolly. But he couldn't get the image out of his head. Stitch and Ari had been sitting next to each other on the couch…

Ari smiled again. "Good! I wanted to talk to you…" She looked back at Lilo and Stitch for a moment. "Alone." She led Jake away from the front room. They paused in the kitchen for a moment, but cleared out once Nani came in. She shook her head at the sight of the two experiments and mumbled something under her breath. Ari couldn't make out what she had said, but thought she heard "stupid" as one of her word choices. She apparently didn't know they were humans stuck in experiment's bodies.

They finally found a private place, in the closet, no less. It was dark in there, and the only light source other than the crack in the door came from Ari's lavender-glowing antennae. Ari shuffled on her feet nervously before she spoke. "I… just wanted to thank you for saving me yesterday. I never got the chance to seeing as you, well, got conked on the head."

Jake grinned sheepishly. "It was nothing, really. I just couldn't let him take you away."

Ari smiled. "There was another thing I wanted to talk to you about. What are you so sorry for?"

"Well… uh…" Jake stammered. "I just wanted to say I was sorry for letting you get caught by those guys," he pointed back towards the front room.

Ari shrugged. "Ah, well. They didn't know we weren't experiments. Besides, I've finally met my favorite character! Isn't he great? We were playing out side while you were sleeping."

Jake nodded grimly. "Yeah… he's a great guy." The last thing he wanted to talk about right now was the two-foot terror. He was glad when Ari changed the subject.

"And I wanted to show you something. But not in here." She opened the closet door with a creak. Jake had to blink his eyes a couple times to get used to the brightness, but got used to it after a while. "Watch this!" Ari screwed up her face and concentrated hard, and soon a light purple sphere appeared around her. It looked like water, but acted like light. Jake had thought it looked cool when he saw it from his room, but it looked even cooler close up!

"It's a force field," Ari explained. "It can deflect anything! Go ahead, throw something at me!" She pointed to a pillow on the floor.

Jake picked up the pillow and threw it at her. He was surprised how fast it went towards her, but even more surprised when it bounced off the shield and flew back at him! He was suddenly looking at the ceiling above him on his back. The pillow had hit him in the stomach.

"Jeez…" he muttered. "Good thing it was only a pillow." Ari's head suddenly obscured his vision of the ceiling. "Oops," she said. "I forgot to tell you. Stitch and I figured out that whatever deflects off my shield will bounce back at the attacker. You aren't hurt, are you?" That last sentence she said with such obvious sincerity that Jake had to smile.

"Nah, I'm fine." He got to his feet. "Cool powers. Do you think I have any?" He fidgeted with his tail.

"Well, that tail of yours has to account for something. Maybe it's poisonous?" Ari pondered.

"Hmm… maybe. Maybe we should try it on someone?"

Ari shook her head. "No, we don't want to put them in a coma, just in case it's that strong. We'll ask Jumba if he's got any dummies or something like that." She took Jake's brown paw in her own white one and took off through the house. Jake wasn't too keen on seeing the guy who had tricked him into coming here, but if Ari thought he was ok after what he did, maybe Jumba wasn't so bad.

Ari skidded and slid around corners with Jake in tow until they reached Jumba's door, which was open for once. Jake could see he was working on something.

"Jumba?" Ari asked. "Someone wants to see you." She pushed Jake into the door and followed him in.

Jumba turned and a big smile spread across his face. "Jake! You are being awake!"

Jake didn't say anything. He just gaped at the alien in front of him. "You… you're…" He stammered. He continued to stammer like this for several seconds, until he finally shouted out, "I worked for YOU!" He wasn't mad; he actually thought it was pretty cool. "No wonder all those things you sent me were weird and filled with weird stuff!"

Ari looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "You worked for him? How? When?"

"Er…" Jake stumbled. "I, er… worked for him in government?"

"Now is not being time to lie, Jake" Jumba said to him.

Jake sighed. "Well… I needed some money, so when I saw an ad in the paper that he wanted a helper for some experiment thing he was gonna do, I stepped up. He gave me this formula that brought us here. So I, er… guess it's my fault we're here." He tensed, waiting for the winding blow that was sure to come.

Ari didn't say or do anything, just stood there with her mouth gaping open. Jake thought he could see her uvula behind her sharp teeth.

"Aren't you gonna hit me or something? Choke me?"

"Jake… WHY DIDN"T YOU TELL ME?" Ari exclaimed happily. "You didn't have to lie to me in the closet. I think it's genius that you helped him with a machine that could make you change dimensions! But…" she paused. "Why me?"

"Well, there wasn't much question after one look in your room." Jake left out the part about him liking her.

Ari smiled. "I suppose so." She suddenly noticed Jumba was still watching them. She cleared her throat nervously.

"Well, now that that is being out of way, what is reason to come?" Jumba asked.

"Well…" Ari began. "We were wondering if you had any dummies or something we could use. Jake still hasn't found out what his powers are!"

Jumba let out a huge yawn. "I do, but in the morning. It is already being past nine."

Ari made an annoyed huffing sound, but said no more. She motioned for Jake to follow her out the door and they stopped outside the elevator leading to Lilo and Stitch's room.

"Nani told me we could sleep in their room. We'd better get sleeping bags…" she trailed off as she ran off back down the hallway and opened up a closet. Jake smiled. If Ari was obsessed enough to know her way around Lilo and Stitch's house, he knew he had chosen the right "volunteer".

Ari returned with two thick sleeping bags in each of her arms. Jake wondered aloud how she could carry them without dropping one, and she answered she could lift 1,500 times her weight. Jake said nothing, just raised an eyebrow in interest.

Ari had to send the sleeping bags up first, as all of them couldn't fit in the elevator at once. Upon reaching Lilo and Stitch's room, she could see that they were already there, obviously banished from any other area of the house for the night. They were listening to Elvis records.

Lilo looked up and smiled when she saw Ari and Jake. "You're here! Great! C'mon, Stitch made popcorn!" She motioned to a bowl almost overflowing with popcorn in between her and Stitch.

Ari settled herself down next to Stitch, with Jake next to her. The whole group formed a circle around the record player, which was now playing "Devil in Disguise".

"So… what did you want to talk to Jumba about?" Lilo asked before shoveling another handful of popcorn in her mouth.

Ari shrugged. "We just wanted to know what Jake's powers were. I asked if he had any dummies we could practice on, but he claimed it was getting late and we would find out in the morning." She shrugged again.

Stitch looked over to Jake. "Jake oketaka?" Jake had been continually reaching for the popcorn bowl and coming back with nothing but air, but still tried to put it in his mouth. He also had a blank look on his face.

"He… is… coming…" Jake said in a voice that wasn't his. "Soon…"

Everyone widened their eyes. Ari leaned over and shook Jake's arm, causing his to shake his head and blink a few times.

"Whoa…" he whispered and rubbed his head. The deer-in-headlights look was gone and the usual twinkle was back in his eyes.

"What happened?" Lilo asked.

Jake shook his head again. "I dunno. One moment I was listening to your conversation, and the next I had these… images… in my head and I talked in that weird way."

Ari's eyes twinkled. "Do you think you're psychic? Is that one of your powers?"

Jake shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. But do psychics see pictures in their head and talk really wired?"

Ari bit her lip nervously at the mention of the pictures. "What did you see?"

"It's a bit fuzzy. There was a yellow figure next to… to something… a whale, I think… They were talking... The whale was telling the yellow thing he would 'return with the abomination.'" He rubbed his head. "And then everything went blank."

Lilo let out a little gasp. "It's Gantu!" she exclaimed. "He must be after another experiment! And it's probably one of you two!" Stitch growled at the name.

Ari shuddered at the memory of their last encounter on the beach. "We've met…" she muttered.

Lilo wasn't listening. She was looking around the room with a wild gleam in her eyes. "You have to hide!" She let out a little "Aha!" when she spotted a dark corner in the room. "You can sleep here!"

Ari looked at her like she was insane. "Are you mental? It's out in the open!"

Lilo let out another little "Aha!" Ari rolled her eyes. "That's the point. He won't be expecting it! He'll probably look in the closet or under the bed! He'll totally miss you! Now help me get these sleeping bags over here." She moved to drag one of the bags over to the corner.

Seeing that Lilo had made up her mind, the three experiments helped her move the sleeping bags. None of them made any comments, but Ari mumbled just loud enough for herself to hear, "This had better work."

After every sleeping bag was moved and every light was turned off, the experiments and Lilo got settled into their beds.

"G'night, Lilo," said Ari.

"G'night, Ari."

"G'night, Stitch."

"Night, Ari."

"Night, Jake." Ari concluded. There was no response beside her. Jake had apparently fallen asleep.

"See you in the morning," Jake finally said after a few moments.

Ari's heart leaped. They'd have to evade Gantu first… "Yeah…" she whispered. "In the morning."

"C'mon, G!" 625 complained. "Which one are ya after now?"

Gantu didn't stop rummaging through his weapons as he spoke. "It's 623 and 622."

625 raised an eyebrow in amazement. "Ya think you can handle it? I mean, I'm not too keen on paying for your medical bill, ya know."

Gantu grumbled something under his breath. "I'm going to be prepared for these two! One of them doesn't even know what it does." He motioned towards the computer, which was displaying Jake and Ari's pictures.

625 approached the computer and pressed a button. The computer said in a monotone voice, "Experiments 622 and 623. 62's primary function: unknown. 623's primary function: deflecting force fields."

"Gee, ya really think you're gonna get these two?"

Gantu emerged from his closet wearing two plasma blasters, a glass container, and the gun containing the nets. (I dunno what it's called.)

"I will come back with the abominations this time. Hamsterveil threatened to fire me if I didn't." He left the ship without another word.

"Hmmm…" 625 inquired. "I think Ill go make a sandwich to calm my nerves about this guy." He headed off towards the kitchen.


	7. Ari Lost

It was nearly midnight, and everyone was asleep in the Pelekai household. Everyone, that is, except Ari. She lay awake in her sleeping bag, not even blinking. She knew she should sleep, but what Jake had said… She couldn't get it out of her mind. She was afraid if she fell asleep Gantu would come and get her. She had come too close to that when she first arrived and she wouldn't allow that to happen again.

She rolled over to look at Jake. He was sound asleep, and his sleeping bag was rising and falling slowly with the rhythm of his breathing.

_He's the one who had the vision, _Ari thought. _And he's not afraid. So why should I? _With that comforting thought in mind, she turned back over so she was facing the ceiling. She _was _exhausted, and the sleeping bag was so warm and cozy…

She dreamed she was walking down a dark street. The only light was from a single street light about twenty feet down the road. She began walking towards it. She didn't know why, she was just drawn to it. Suddenly the light began to fall on her with a long creaking noise…

She bolted awake, sweat dripping down her fur. Even though she was awake, the dreadful creaking of the light post still went on. Looking up, she could see the source of the noise. The roof was shaking, as if someone was trying to tear it up!

"Oh, no…" she whispered as her heart leaped to her throat. Around everyone was waking up. Lilo, Stitch, Jake and her all looked at the roof as it finally tore away and Gantu's fat noggin appeared in the empty space.

_Please don't let him see us, please don't let him see us… _Ari thought desperately. Beside her Jake was staring at Gantu, his black eyes wide with fear.

"Give me experiments 622 and 623!" Gantu declared. He had, apparently, not seen them yet.

"Nope!" Lilo replied coolly. "You really think we're going to give them to you?"

Gantu looked around the room until his eyes passed over Ari. "Ah HA! I found you!" He reached an arm inside the room to pick her up. It was a stupid attempt. When his arm got close enough, Ari took her revenge on all the experiments Gantu had managed to keep, including Angel. She bit him on the finger. Hard.

"And _that_ one's for Angel!" she shouted. Gantu withdrew his hand and shook it in the air. After sucking on it for a few seconds he reached into his belt and drew out a plasma gun. He aimed it directly at Ari.

"And _this _one's for Hamsterviel," he said in a smooth tone before firing the gun.

Ari tried to make a force field before the plasma hit her, but she wasn't fast enough. Just as the glowing blue-green sphere appeared around her the plasma hit her. However, the sphere trapped the plasma inside with Ari so it kept bouncing off the walls and hitting her. Finally she collapsed from the pain, and the sphere disintegrated. The plasma blast hit the floor and disappeared.

"Ari!" Lilo cried. She and Stitch rushed in to defend her, but Gantu had his blaster poised at them. Seeing they had no choice, they stopped in their tracks and watched _helplessly_ at the scene in front of them.

Gantu smiled and put his plasma blaster away. He took out the glass containment tube, picked the unconscious Ari up, and dropped her inside. He secured the lid tightly and without a word disappeared into the darkness.

"Ari…" Stitch said sadly after Gantu had gone. His ears drooped.

"Don't worry, Stitch. You, Jake and I will get her back. We always do, don't we?" She paused suddenly and looked around the room. "Hey! Where's Jake?"

Jake sat inside the closet, hugging his short legs. He had slipped inside the closet when he had seen Gantu in the rooftop and watched the whole thing. He saw Ari being hit countless times with the plasma blast. He saw her collapse and saw Gantu take her away. And he hadn't even tried to stop it.

"I'm such a coward…" he muttered to himself. He felt miserable. Ari was probably going to be sent to Hamsterviel and there was nothing he could do about it.

He felt like a little mouse when he emerged from the closet.

"There you are!" Lilo said happily. "At least Gantu didn't get you too!"

Jake looked at her with a sad expression. "How can you be happy? She's my friend! And Gantu took her away, and now I'll never see her again!" He could feel the tears coming to his eyes. He rubbed them away furiously.

Lilo and Stitch's faces softened considerably. "You like her, don't you?" Lilo asked gently.

Jake was too miserable to lie, so he nodded. "Yeah… I do."

Lilo and Stitch looked at each other for a moment, then back at Jake. Stitch walked up to him and said softly, "We'll get Jake's bushi-bu back."

Jake didn't know what "bushi-bu" meant, but there was something in Stitch's voice that cheered him up a bit. "We will?" he asked. Maybe there was a glimmer of hope.

Stitch nodded. "Leave now."

Jake smiled at him. If Stitch was willing to help get his "bushi-bu" back, maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.


	8. Meeting Angel and 625

Ari woke up to a very bumpy ride on the inside of a glass container. It took her a few moments to remember what had happened earlier, and she cursed when she remembered, and cursed even louder when a particular bump made her hit her head on the glass wall. She looked around and saw that she was in a glass tube strapped to Gantu's back. He was walking towards his ship, which could be seen at a distance.

_Now I can see what these claws can do…_ Ari thought. She scraped her purple claws down the glass with a loud screech. It left a deep indent in the glass! She continued clawing at the glass, but couldn't get any deeper than that. All she succeeded in was wearing down her claws to nubs.

She sighed and sat back down in the tube. She had been in a similar situation like this yesterday when Lilo and Stitch caught her and Jake. However, this was different. She wasn't comforted with the fact that she would be going somewhere safe, and Jake wasn't here. Her heart panged with the thought of him. Why hadn't he come to her rescue when she was in danger? She had thought he was her friend!

_I guess I thought wrong, _she thought sadly. _He's just like all the other boys. Cowards. _She wiped away a tear that was beginning to fall from her eye. Even though she wanted to be angry at him for not helping her, a small part of her said that he would come for her.

625 was sitting on a chair eating an egg salad sandwich. "Hey, hey! You got him! I guessed I underestimated you, fish boy!"

Ari took a moment from her misery to glare at him. "I'm a _girl_, thank you very much." Normally she would have laughed at 625's comments, but now that she was at the other end of his statements, she didn't find it in the least amusing.

Gantu approached a cell built right into the wall. It was large and square, and had thick clear glass over the front. Ari couldn't see the back wall of the cell; it was too dark in there. Gantu pressed a button to the right of the cell and the glass spread apart. He opened the lid of the container Ari was in and dumped her inside. She landed on her back with a loud THUMP.

She sat up and rubbed the back of her head and clenched her teeth. "Ohh… she moaned quietly. "Why do these things always happen to me?" She stood up and pressed her paws up against the glass to watch what was going on.

"625, I need you to watch the abomination for a while," Gantu told him.

"Why?" 625 didn't even look away from the TV.

"Because I told you to! Do you need another reason?" Gantu growled. Then, without another word he went off to the bathroom.

"Probably to play with his rubber ducky," Ari muttered.

"Yeah, probably," 625 answered. Ari was surprised he heard her, but then remembered he could hear as well as Stitch.

"Listen," he continued. "You and I are both in a situation we'd both like to avoid. You're on a one-way trip to Hammy, and I'm stuck babysitting while fish-face is in the bath. Let's call a deal, alright? My favorite show's coming on, but I can't watch it if you're gonna escape on me. How 'bout this. I get to watch my show, and you can sit here and not try to escape, ok?"

Ari glared at him again. "How does that help me, though? Aren't you going to let me go? Then you won't even have to worry about me escaping because I'll already be gone!"

625 looked confused for a moment, and then a look of comprehension crossed his face. "Who said I would let you go? I'm just telling you that if you don't try to escape that'll save both of our hind ends."

Ari looked like she would like nothing more than to take that sandwich ad shove it up his left nostril.

"Besides, your boyfriend is probably on his way right now." 625 said casually.

"Jake's not my boyfriend!" Ari said quickly. "How do you know about him, anyway?"

"The first thing G said when he came home two days ago was complain that," he lowered his voice to match Gantu's," the only reason I lost that abomination is because that stupid green trog snatched my gun out of my hands!" 625 chuckled. "He then went on explaining how the "trog" tried to protect you, and he would have captured the both of you if it weren't for your boyfriend."

Ari had to smile at 625's impression of Gantu. Then she went right back into her state of misery. "Well, he's not my boyfriend. He's not even my friend!" She turned away and bit her lip to keep the tears back. "He didn't even try to save me when Gantu came to Lilo's house," she said quietly. She expected 625 to come up with some cocky saying, but when he didn't answer she turned around. She saw him in the next room watching some show on the "Sandwich Channel".

Ari sighed and sat down, scared of what lay in the future. She scraped her claws against the glass half-heartedly, the familiar scraping of nails against a hard surface making her grimace a bit. Her claws left four long white lines on the glass. Even though she knew she wouldn't be able to claw her way through, she gained satisfaction in the knowledge of ruining Gantu's cell. She stood up again and clawed at the glass again. And again and again. In fact, she didn't stop until the entire surface of the glass was covered in scratches and the sound of scratching claws was ringing in her ears. She brushed her paws off in triumphant glee and sat down again.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a small voice coming from the back of the cell.

"Thank goodness you stopped. I almost thought I'd have to come out there and strangle you."

Ari shook her head in confusion. The person, no, the _thing, _wasn't speaking English. It was speaking Turian! And Ari actually understood it! _Man, this place just keeps getting weirder, _she thought.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Come out!" She wasn't sure she wanted to see the creature who threatened to strangle her, but she was even more uncomfortable not knowing what lay back there in the darkness. When no one answered or came out, she called again, "Come out!"

"Hang on, I'm coming!" the voice said with a touch of annoyance. "It's not that easy to get around when you're in pain, you know!"

Ari softened a bit. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know…" she wasn't able to finish her sentence, as what emerged from the dark was unbelievable.

"Angel!" Ari exclaimed in disbelief. The creature was, indeed, Angel. But she was hardly recognizable. Her once light pink fur was bloodstained from cuts and scratches all over her body so her coloring now resembled 627's. Her ears had nicks and tears. Her antennae didn't have the once bouncy flair to them; they now hung lifeless on the top of her head.

Ari nearly cried at the sight of her. "I thought you were sent to Hamsterveil!"

"I was," Angel answered simply. Even talking seemed to cause her pain. "But how did you know I was captured by Gantu?" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Oh, uh," Ari stuttered. "Stitch told me. After I was, er, activated, I was captured by him along with another experiment and he told me about you." She said the whole sentence in one breath. "Why are you back then? And why are you hurt?"

Angel winced in pain again. "I wouldn't obey what he said so he used some of the other experiments to persuade me. But I kept thinking of my bushi-bu, and the pain was bearable. After a while he finally sent me back to Gantu. I've been kept here ever since."

Ari's heart melted at the sight of her. "But… don't they feed you?" Angel had come into the light enough for her to see that she was thin that Ari could see every single one of her ribs through her fur.

Angel chuckled. "Yeah, they feed me. Gantu's dumb, but he's not cruel. I just choose not to eat. I will not do anything that makes them think I've given up and submit myself to them."

Ari admired Angel's courage, but if she didn't eat, she would die! Didn't she see that? When she voiced her concern, Angel just scoffed and told her she would rather die than be used by Hamsterveil for the rest of her life.

"Well, come here and let's see how deep those cuts are," Ari sighed. Angel walked over to her. Her wounds looked even worse close up. One Ari could see went right down to the bone.

"Who made these?" she whispered in horror.

"I told you. Some of the experiments Hamsterveil already has and trained them for battle." Angel winced when Ari gently touched one of the wounds. "Ouch! Don't do that!"

But Ari didn't answer. She was looking at the wound on Angel side she had just touched with a claw. It was glowing purple and closing shut! Ari gaped at it until it closed completely and the glow had subsided, leaving nothing but a faint scar in her bloodstained fur.

"Angel! You're better!" Ari exclaimed happily. "Well, part of you is."

"What?" Angel looked down at the place where the cut had once been and smiled. "Why didn't you tell me you could heal wounds?"

"I…didn't… know…"Ari said in disbelief. She was still staring at the scar on Angel side.

"Well, don't just stand there! Help me with these other ones," Angel said. "I've got one right here that hurts really badly." She pointed at an infected-looking cut on her leg.

Ari bent down and examined it. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but it looked like it was filled with pus. Some of it was oozing out. She rubbed a claw down the infected cut. Angel gasped at the flash of pain that accompanied the healing, but the cut was already healing. The scar it left was slightly darker than the other one, but still nearly unnoticeable. Angel put weight on it tentatively, grinning.

After several minutes of healing, Angel was cut-free and free of bruises. The only thing she needed now was nutrition. Unfortunately, Ari couldn't provide that.

"You need to eat, Angel," she said in exasperation. "Or you'll die! Hamsterveil already knows you won't obey him, so Gantu won't send you to him. But please, eat."

Angel looked at her for a moment, and then sighed inward. "Fine. I'll eat. But I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for my bushi-bu."

"You can do it for 625 for all I care. I'm just glad you're eating," Ari replied.

They were interrupted by a sound coming from the bathroom. The door opened and out came Gantu. He was wearing nothing but a towel and a hair net. He looked over at the cell where Ari and Angel were.

Ari narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to imitate the Towel Girl, now?" she smirked.

Gantu grunted angrily. He walked over to his computer and typed something in. "Dr. Hamsterveil," he told the computer.

Hamsterveil appeared in the moving TV. "Gantu! What are you doing calling in the middle of the night with nothing but a towel on, you incompetent fish head of a minion?"

Gantu ignored his verbal abuse. "I have another experiment for you," he said with a slight smile.

Hamsterveil expression lighted. "Where is it, then?"

Gantu pointed at Ari. "It's experiment 623."

"Hmmm… It doesn't look like a good minion, but it is an experiment, none the less! Send it to me first thing in the morning!" The TV blinked out.

Gantu yawned. "625! I'm going to bed. Can I trust you to feed the trogs without letting them get away?"

"Hey, no problem, G!"

Gantu yawned again and went to his bedroom.

"So," 625 said to the two captured experiments. "Would you lovely ladies like turkey, or egg salad?"

Angel growled at 625, but Ari was thinking. This guy could be their ticket out of here. But they had to buy their time. "Do you make grilled PB and J?" she asked politely.

"Grilled?" 625 said in surprise. "I don't think I've made that one before…" He had a look of struck terror on his face.

"You haven't?" Ari faked surprise. "It's much better than a normal PB and J! And I'm sure you would make it perfectly," she added slyly.

"So that'll be two grilled PB and J's?" 625 cracked his knuckles. "It'll be right up! Oh, and thanks for the sandwich suggestion, cuz!" He walked off to the kitchen.

Angel looked at Ari like she was crazy. "What are you being nice to him for? He won't even let us go!"

"Not right now, but if we be nice and polite to him he might. He'd probably like the respect anyway; the way Gantu treats him all the time."

Angel narrowed her eyes again. "You're creeping me out. How do you know Gantu treats him like dirt?"

Ari suddenly seemed very interested in a dust particle floating in front of her face. "I, uh… Well… the way Gantu asked him to watch us before he took a bath was kind of rude, and I… kind of figured that's how he treated him all the time." She gulped.

Angel softened. "Oh." She dropped the subject. "So you think he'll let us go after a while?"

"Well, I really don't know. But…" she bit her lip. "I really don't want to go to Hamsterveil."

They were interrupted yet again by 625. "Two grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!" he exclaimed. "On the house." He opened a very small door just big enough for the sandwiches in the side of the cell. He shoved the sandwiches in on a plate. The two experiments grabbed their own sandwich. Ari took a bite.

"These are great, 625! She exclaimed in what she hoped was a happy voice. She looked at Angel expectantly.

"Oh, er… Yeah, thanks," Angel muttered between bites of her sandwich.

625 smiled. "Glad you like it. Well, I'm off to bed. I want to get some sleep before G tells me to make him another sandwich." He slumped away from Ari and Angel. Just before he turned the corner he turned back around. "And I'm really sorry about being sent to Hammy." He disappeared beyond the corner.

Ari looked at Angel. The delicious sandwiches had taken her mind off her predicament for a minute, but he had reminded her of it. She tried to hold back the tears.

"Don't worry, 623," Angel said softly. "We're gonna get out of here."

The tone of Angel's voice brought Ari's spirits up a bit. "Really?"

"If it's the last thing I do."


	9. Rescued?

"C'mon, we're getting close!" Lilo shouted. "Jake, quit lagging behind!"

Jake looked up from his view of the ground. He hadn't noticed how far behind Lilo and Stitch he'd become.

"I'm coming!" he yelled back and quickened his pace. He wanted to get to Ari as soon as possible, but it was hard to keep up when these terrible thoughts kept entering his mind.

_What if she's gone when I get there? _He would think. Then he would drive the horrid thought away and think _Of course not! Hamsterveil wouldn't accept an experiment in the middle of the night!_

But that logic was fading with the night. The first rays of sunlight were peaking over the horizon, and technically "middle of the night" wasn't the proper term anymore. He jogged up to Stitch's side.

"Do you think we'll get there in time?" he asked.

Stitch looked at him for a moment, and Jake was almost sure he would say no, but Stitch nodded. "Yes. Bushi-bu will be there."

That was the second time Stitch had referred to Ari as Jake's "bushi-bu" and Jake still didn't know what it meant.

"What does…?" he wasn't able to finish his question. Lilo had put her hand over his mouth.

"Shush! We're here." She removed her hand from his mouth and pointed at a large, purple spaceship. She motioned for Jake to follow her and Stitch, to which he quickly obeyed.

_Please let her be there, please let her be there… _he kept thinking desperately to himself as they approached the ship. He didn't know what he would do if she weren't there when he got in there. He just prayed things wouldn't come to that.

By this time they were at the ramp leading into the ship. The door wasn't open.

"Darn!" Lilo stamped her foot.

"Naga good…" Stitch said softly. Even though they all knew he could easily claw the door open, he couldn't possibly to so without raising such a racket to wake Gantu up.

"What'll we do now?" Jake whimpered. He was frustrated in getting this far and to be suddenly stopped by a closed door. "We're just going to sit here and wait for the door to open!"

Lilo shrugged helplessly. "Do you have another plan?"

Jake could hardly believe his ears. "What about those other times you came here? Did you give up then? NO! And I will not give up for ONE FRIGGIN CLOSED DOOR!" He was shouting by now.

"Sh!" Lilo whispered nervously.

"NO! I won't! I will not sit here and let Ari be sent to Hamsterveil! I will do everything I can to MAKE THIS DOOR OPEN!"

His rant was interrupted by a rumbling sound coming from the ship. They all turned to look. The door was somehow opening! They all ducked down behind a large boulder for a moment, in case Gantu came out, but no one emerged from the ship.

"What the…?" Jake muttered quietly.

"Don't ask questions, just be glad it opened! Come on, we've gotta get Ari!" Lilo exclaimed.

Jake smiled and followed her and Stitch into the ship. His smile faded, however, when he remembered what Jumba had told Ari and him. _Will wear off in about a week…_If his math was right, this was the fourth day they'd been here. Only three more days. Surely they'd save Ari by then… right?

In Gantu's Ship

Ari sighed heavily and paced the floor of the cell nervously. Dawn had just broken, a sign Gantu would wake up soon and… she gulped… send her to Hamsterveil. She bit her lip and continued pacing, taking three steps one way and three steps the other way.

Angel watched her with concern. "You've gotta stop pacing like that, or you'll wear a hole in the floor!"

Ari didn't answer; her heart was pounding in her ears and she couldn't hear a word Angel was saying.

_Please let him come, please let him come… _She kept thinking. She wanted him to come and save her, she would have no other do it. Not even Stitch. She wasn't ready to give up on Jake yet, but if he didn't come…

_No, _she thought angrily to herself. _He will come. He will. He will, he will, he will. Oh, God, please let him come. _She tried to hold her tears back, but one ran down the side of her furry cheek, staining her fur for a moment.

She could see Angel's mouth moving, but couldn't hear the words. She felt as if she had gone deaf.

Suddenly she perked her ears up. A voice had reached her ears, distant and barely audible. But it was there. She ran to the glass door of the cell and pressed her ear against it. She heard it again! It was faint, but she could just make out the words, "Ari! Where are you?"

It was Jake! She felt energy flow into her body, more than she had ever felt. "I'm here, Jake!" she bellowed out, her voice reverberating off the walls in the cell, echoing.

"What is it?" Angel questioned. Ari turned to her.

"It's Jake! He's come to rescue me!" she cried joyously. She turned back around and banged her paws on the glass. "Jake, over here!"

She heard new voices. "She's over here!" "Iki baba!"

"It's Stitch! And Lilo!" Ari shouted. She saw then round a corner, Lilo first, then Stitch, and Jake at the end.

But he was soon at the front of the line when he saw her. "Ari! I found you!" He pressed his own paw up against the glass on the other side.

Meanwhile, Stitch seemed preoccupied with something else.

"A-Angel?" he murmured in disbelief.

"Bushi-bu!" Angel cried in joy. "I always knew you'd come eventually!"

"We come to rescue Jake's bushi-bu from big dummy." Stitch exclaimed. "Naga idea you still here!"

Angel turned to look at the unlikely pair beside her. "Bushi-bu?" she questioned. "You're his bushi-bu?"

Ari looked over at Angel. "Well, uh… I mean-" What could she say? "Well, no, I mean not… yet…" she chose her words carefully. "We're just friends."

Jake finally seemed to catch on to the meaning of "bushi-bu." "Yeah, we're just friends." He said. There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

Stitch nodded. "Achi-babas." When Jake looked confused, Stitch laughed and said, "Friends," in explanation.

Jake nodded. "But we've already done enough standing around. How do we get you two out of there?"

Ari nodded towards the red button Gantu had pushed to make the door open. "You press that. At least, that's what Gantu did."

Jake looked up at the large button. It was nearly three feet above him, fitted to the wall to match Gantu's size. "Someone give me a boost," he ordered. Stitch moved to grab his legs and lift him above his shoulders. Jake wobbled a bit, but Stitch held him steady. He leaned forward to put all his weight into pressing the bright red button. It pushed forward into the wall… and an alarm sounded!

"Intruder! Intruder! Intruder!" a robotic female voice ringed on the intercom.

"Shit…" Jake mumbled. Stitch quickly put him down.

"Go!" Ari hissed. "Hide before Gantu comes!"

"But what about you?" Jake asked.

Ari hesitated, indecisive. "Just go!" she finally said. "Come and get me after Gantu goes away!"

Jake ran off down the hall through which he, Stitch, and Lilo had come. At the end he paused, looking back at Ari. Then he disappeared around the corner.

Gantu came through a door on the opposite side of the wall. "Where are they?" he demanded.

"Who?" Ari asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"The intruders!" Gantu shouted, obviously exasperated.

"What intruders?" Angel inquired, joining in on the game.

Gantu looked around the room, eyes narrowed. When he seemed satisfied it was empty, he said gruffly, "The computer must be broken again. I'll have to fix it later… But now to get rid of you trogs."

Ari's stomach dropped to her feet. "Now?" she asked weakly. "But…" Then she caught on to what Gantu had said. "Trogs? As in plural? Why send Angel! You already sent her once!"

"Hamsterveil's decided to try again with 624, now that she's regained her health," Gantu replied simply. He moved to open the cell in which Ari and Angel were trapped…


	10. A Desperate Decision

"Ok, we gotta figure out another plan," Jake said, pacing the ground outside Gantu's ship. "Maybe we could surprise him, and then hit him over the head with a frying pan. Then while he's on the ground in pain, we could grab Ari and Angel and run!" It was obvious he was getting desperate.

"Or, we could do it our way," Lilo said.

"What's that?"

Lilo didn't say anything, just looked at Stitch. Stitch smiled evilly and laughed that maniacal laugh of his. He let out his extra arms, spikes, and antennae.

"Brute force," Jake nodded, understanding," would work too."

"Let's get 'em!" Lilo shouted.

Ari backed herself up against the wall of the cage she was in, trying to escape the giant alien's reaching hand. Angel was next to her, trying to do the same thing. But the cage was so small; eventually they had backed themselves into a corner.

"We're trapped!" Angel cried.

Ari didn't say anything. She was thinking of how to escape from the cage. This cage, which was open at the other end for the big dummy's hand to get through. She and Angel were so close to freedom!

_If we could just get past Gantu… _Ari thought desperately. _Wait a minute! _She thought back to her training session with Jumba, how the plasma balls had just bounced off her…

"Force field!" Ari said out loud. "I'll create a force field around us!" She concentrated on making a field around the two of them. A protective sphere… Big enough to protect the both of them… It worked! There it was, around them! No, wait, it was flickering! She could see it flickering on and off around them, but eventually it stopped altogether, and she couldn't create another one.

_I've never made one that big before. Just big enough to cover myself, and that was only one time,_ Ari thought. She gasped as she was grabbed by the leg and lifted into the air by Gantu, along with Angel.

Ari watched upside down as she and Angel were brought to the room with the teleporters in them. Gantu dropped the both of them onto a pad, and quickly covered it with a glass tube. He walked over to the control panel and pressed a few buttons. A computer's voice said, "One minute till teleport."

Gantu got up and left the room, satisfied with the job he'd done.

"W-what're we gonna do?" Angel cried.

"We try to get out of here, that's what we're gonna do!" Ari shouted. She got down on all four paws and began searching the part where the tube met the floor for cracks or seams.

_Maybe I could get my claws underneath and lift it up… _Ari thought.

But the glass had been too evenly cut; there were none. Ari sighed and sat back down. She heard the computer's voice say, "Thirty seconds till teleport."

"We're doomed," Angel whimpered.

"No we're not," Ari said. "They'll come back. They'll rescue us," she continued. By "they" she had meant the whole group that had attempted the rescue earlier, but mostly Jake. She knew he'd come back for her now. But would he be able to make it in time?

"Twenty seconds," said the computer.

"Hurry, Jake," Ari mumbled. She strained her ears for a sound, any sound. The patter of footsteps, a growl from Stitch, anything.

"Wait," she said suddenly. "What's that?" She had heard something. She perked her ears up and listened harder, but the sound was hard to make out. But as the sound got closer she was able to make out a voice.

"Ari!" the voice shouted. "Where are you?" It was Jake!

"Jake!" Ari yelled back. "Over here!"

She heard three pairs of feet pounding on the floor towards the room she and Angel were in. When the trio turned the corner, Jake gasped and ran at the glass. He began tearing at it with his claws.

"No, Jake, the buttons!" Ari said.

"Ten… nine… eight…"

"Which buttons?" Jake said in desperation.

"I don't know, just press some!"

"Hurry!" Lilo shouted.

"Five… four… three … two…"

Jake was pressing buttons wildly. "Where's the stupid button! Wait, here it...!"

"Teleporting now."

There was a blinding flash of light from the teleporting pod, and then… Ari and Angel were gone.

"Is?" Jake said meekly. "Ari?"

"Aaaaangel?" Stitch moaned.

"We were too late!" Lilo said sadly.

There was a long silence when the whole group was just standing there, staring dumbly at the empty teleporting pod. Jake's lip trembled; he was near tears. _Maybe if I stare at the pod long enough she'll come back._ But he knew she wasn't. She was gone. _But… there has to be something we can do!_

"No," Jake said out loud suddenly.

"What?" Lilo looked at him.

"No, we weren't too late. We can still rescue them," Jake continued.

"How?"

Jake said nothing, just looked at the teleporting pod.

"Wait," Lilo said slowly. "You want to go to Hamsterveil?"

"Yep."

"But you might not come back! You might be trapped there!" Lilo protested.

"It's better to be stuck over there with Ari than be here without her!" Jake shouted.

There was another long pause, and then Stitch said, "Stitch going with you."

"What?" Jake asked, imitating Lilo.

"Stitch going with you to rescue bushi-bu."

"Stitch, not you, too! Fine, if you're both going, I'm going too," Lilo crossed her arms.

"You can't. You need to handle the controls here," Jake reasoned. Without waiting for a response, he walked over to a spare control pad with Stitch in tow.

"But I don't know how to use this thing," Lilo said.

"Just use the coordinates from the last teleport and press Go!" Jake was beginning to get impatient with this girl.

Lilo jumped up on the stool, analyzed the buttons for a bit, and finally seemed to find the "Go" button. She raised her hand up to press it, and right before she pressed it she said, "You have two days." Then she slammed her hand down on the button.

Jake felt a strange feeling, like he was being pulled through the air with a rope tied around his waist. There was nothing but blackness all around him for a moment, and then he made an abrupt landing. It wasn't a hard landing, just unexpected. He looked around him. Stitch was next to him on the teleporting pod, but it wasn't the same as in Gantu's ship. All the machinery was silver, silver, and dark silver and had a space-age feel to it. Jake knew they were inside Hamsterveil's ship.

He took a deep breath, and then turned to Stitch. "Ready to whip some gerbil butt?"

"Ih," Stitch said simply. They were about to step off the pod when Jake had a terrifying thought.

_If Lilo's back on Earth, who's going to run the controls so we can get home? _


	11. Enter the Hedgehog

As Stitch and Jake infiltrated the hallways of Hamsterviel's ship, a figure was watching them from the shadows. Suddenly Stitch stopped abruptly when he heard the sound of someone breathing. He looked at Jake who looked at him dumbfounded.

"What is it Stitch?" He asked. Stitch shushed him and pointed at the place where he heard the sound.

"Someone's following us?" Jake asked. Stitch nodded. Jake then had an idea. He whispered it into Stitch's ear, so the stranger couldn't hear them. The two experiments then continued to walk down the hallway. As they were walking, the figure crept closer to them. When he got within a few feet, Jake lashed out his tail, scoring a direct hit at what he assumed were the feet.

"Ow!" A male voice that sounded like it was about 15 or so. "Did you have to do that?"

Jake and Stitch turned around to see a peculiar being. It looked like a green anthropomorphic hedgehog, with white stripes on the spines. He was wearing casual clothes, and had a strange collar on his neck.

"Who are you, and why were you following us?" Jake asked.

"I'm Mark the Hedgehog, and why are you on this ship?"

"We're here to rescue bushie-bus!" Stitch said.

"Uh-huh." Mark said. "Well, I'm here looking for someone."

"Hamsterviel?" Jake guessed.

"No, no. That wasn't his name. The guy I'm looking for didn't have such a ridiculous name as Hamsterwheel."

"That's Hamsterviel, you white striped freak!" A familiar voice to Stitch said angrily. The three turned around to see Dr. Jacques von Hamsterviel on a floating platform. Behind him on another floating platform were Ari and Angel.

"Ari!" Jake said.

"Angel!" Stitch said.

"Gerbil!" Mark said.

"I'm a hamster!" Hamsterviel screamed. "How can you not tell the difference between a hamster and a gerbil?" He then cooled down. "Anyway, you two foolish experiments have played right into my hands! I knew you two would follow your loved ones here! Now I have four new experiments, and one new prisoner!"

"Yeah, not gonna let that happen." Mark said. Suddenly two long strands of hair emerged from his nostrils, each one hitting one of the platforms. Hamsterviel's platform was sent flying through the ship, while Ari and Angel's capsules were broken.

"Thanks, er…" Ari said.

"Mark. Mark the Hedgehog." He gave them a thumbs up. "Now let's get outta here."

"Wait." Ari said. "We can't leave yet. What about the other experiments?"

"But Hamsterviel's trained them for evil." Angel argued. "They could kill us."

"Yeah, but you can turn them good again by singing you song backwards."

"Seriously, how do you know all this?" Angel asked.

"What's she saying?" Mark asked.

"She's saying that the experiments here are evil still."

"I think I can overcome them." Mark then ran off in Hamsterviel's direction. The other four followed him.

Soon…

Mark had reached Hamsterviel's lab, and was awe-struck. Lining the walls were all sorts of fiendish-looking devices and cells, with an experiment in each of them. Ari, Jake, Stitch, and Angel caught up to him.

"OMA." Mark said.

"'OMA?'" Jake asked. "Don't you mean 'OMG?'"

"No I mean OMA. It stands for 'Oh, my Arkvoodle.'"

"Experiments, kill them!" Hamsterviel shouted. All the cells opened and the experiments started to charge at the five. Mark hit all of them with his nose hairs. They were instantly defeated.

"Now, Angel!" Ari said. Angel began to sing a strange song. All the experiments immediately got up and ran behind the good guys.

"Now let's get outta here!" Jake said. Everyone immediately ran out of the room to the teleporter.

"I don't think so!" Hamsterviel pushed a button.

When everyone got to the teleporter, they saw that it had been smashed to pieces.

"Now we'll never get home!" Jake moaned.

"Wait, we're not done yet." Mark pulled out a gold ring. He tossed it onto the ground. The ring immediately enlarged and had a strange vortex in the middle.

"What is that?" Ari asked in wonder.

"It's called a Warp Ring. You touch, visualize where you want to go, and it'll take you there." Ari and Jake ran to it and immediately thought of Gantu's ship. Everyone then ran through it.

On Earth…

Lilo was waiting patiently for the Stitch and Jake to return with Angel and Ari. Suddenly, she saw a giant gold ring appear in front of her. Just then, Stitch, Jake, Ari, Angel, Mark, and sixteen experiments tumbled out.

"You're all alright!" Lilo said happily.

"Yeah, except we're being crushed." Jake groaned.

Lilo then noticed Mark.

"Who's this?"

"I'm Mark. Mark the Hedgehog." He gave her another thumbs up.

"Nice to meet you, Mark." The two shook hands. She then looked at everyone else. "We need to get outta here quickly."

"On it." Mark said. "Everyone on my back." All twenty aliens and one human piled onto Mark's back. He then zoomed out of the ship at a blinding fast speed. Gantu then showed up.

"What's all this ruckus?" He shouted. Just then the view screen came on.

"Gantu!" Hamsterviel said. "All the experiments you sent me have escaped!"

"Don't worry, sir. I'll get them immediately."

"You've proven your uselessness one too many times. This time I'm sending in professionals."

Gantu's teleporter then activated and produced two robots. One was red and orb-shaped, while the other was yellow and cube-shaped.

"Say hello to my new henchmen: Orbot and Cubot!"


	12. Orbot and Cubot

Later that day, Ari and Jake were relaxing at the Pelekai house. Mark was outside explaining his situation to Nani and the others. Lilo and Stitch were in the back busy thinking of homes for the rescued experiments. Suddenly there was a loud explosion. Ari, Jake, and Mark immediately rushed out back. They saw the experiments being chased by two robots. The yellow cube-looking one had a butterfly net, while the red orb-like one had a laser pistol.

"Yee haw! Git along, li'l aliens!" The yellow robot said in a cowboy accent.

"Your voice chip is stuck on cowboy again!" His partner said. "Stop talking and net those aliens!"

Mark slapped his face in frustration.

"I know these clowns." Mark said. He then leaped down to the chase. Ari and Jake leaped after him.

"Mark?" Orbot and Cubot said at the same time.

"I reckoned Eggman was involved in this." Mark said.

"Fortunately no." Orbot said. "We have a new employer."

"Yeah, pardner." Cubot said. "Consarnit, what was that feller's name again?"

"Dr. Jacques von Hamsterviel, remember?" Orbot reminded him.

"Yeah, that's it!"

"You work for that gerbil?" Jake asked.

"Now leave these creatures alone, or else." Mark said threateningly. Orbot and Cubot immediately scampered off in fear.

"Nice one, Mark" Ari said.

"Like I said, I know those clowns inside and out."

"Who were those guys anyway?" Lilo asked.

"Their names are Orbot and Cubot." Mark explained. "They used to be the henchmen of my archenemy Dr. Eggman."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Ari interrupted. "You know about Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Yeah. He's my dad."

Meanwhile…

Orbot and Cubot got a safe distance away from the house. Just then there was a ringing coming from Cubot. Orbot pushed a button on his counterpart's back. A screen then showed itself to reveal Hamsterviel's face.

"Well, did you get them?"

"Um, about that, boss. We ran into a little trouble." Orbot said.

"What? You useless good-for-nothing robot! I told you specifically to capture those experiments!"

"Well, you din't tell us 'bout the hedgehog bein here!" Cubot said.

"What is wrong with your voice?" Hamsterviel asked angrily.

"His voice chip is stuck on cowboy." Orbot explained.

"Fine. Report back to Gantu's ship for repairs! But I want you back out there as soon as possible!"

"Will do, pardner!" Cubot said.

"Shut up!" Hamsterviel then logged off. Orbot and Cubot then made their way back to Gantu's ship.

Meanwhile…

"So you're looking for a friend of yours?" Lilo asked. "But you can't remember his name?"

"That's right. I mean, I can still picture him, but I just can't remember his name."

"Well, we'll find him." Jake said.

"Ih." Stitch agreed.

"And hopefully soon." Ari said.

Soon…

After getting several experiments together, the six began their search of the island. The sun was already going down when they returned home with no luck.

"Damn." Mark muttered. "He's not in this Zone either."

"Why are you searching for this guy anyway?" Jake asked.

"His twin sister told me to look for him. He disappeared after the final battle of a big adventure we went on together."

"Alright." Ari then yawned. "Today was exhausting."

"I think you all should get some sleep." Mark agreed.

"What about you?" Lilo asked.

"I'm moving on to the next Zone." He took out his Warp Ring.

"Why don't you spend the night with us?" Lilo offered.

"Thanks, but time is precious to me."

Ari, Jake, Stitch, and Angel then gave Mark the puppy dog eyes. Mark tried hard to resist the cuteness. He then sighed.

"Fine. But only tonight."

Meanwhile…

"When I have those experiments, the universe will be mine!" Hamsterviel said on the view screen.

"Y'all reckon you'll be able to take over the whole dang universe with those little things?" Cubot asked.

"Yes, I 'reckon' I will." Hamsterviel said, imitating the cowboy accent. "Where is your new voice chip?"

Orbot then came in.

"Got it right here, sir!" He said cheerfully. "Just need to install it." He then started to install it into Cubot. "_The think bone's connected to the mouth bone; the mouth bone is connected to the talk bone. _There, good as new!"

"Finally." 625 said. "I don't think anything could have been more annoying than that cowboy chatter."

"Yar!" Cubot said in a pirate voice. Feelin' ship-shape with me new voice chip, I am. Ah-beggin' your pardon, Squire, but me and my matey are going to sail off an' search fer that lubber Mark! Arr!"

Cubot then left the ship.

"I think that's the wrong chip." Orbot said.

"Really?" Gantu asked sarcastically. "Are you sure he doesn't normally speak in pirate?"

"On the bright side, he's much more exotic now." Orbot said.

"Now go and get those experiments!" Hamsterviel screamed. Orbot abruptly followed Cubot out of the ship.


	13. Reality will be COLLAPSED!

"So we have one day left before we go home." Jake said.

Suddenly the ground started to shake violently.

"Is Richter acting up again?" Lilo asked.

"I don't think so." Mark said. Suddenly, a device on his belt began to beep. He looked at it and his eyes widened.

"Oh, no." He whispered.

"What is it?" Ari asked.

"This Zone is going to collapse unless you two get back home."

"You mean because we're here, the world's going to be destroyed?" Jake asked.

Mark nodded grimly.

Suddenly a capsule landed on both Ari and Jake. Stitch, Lilo, Angel, and Mark saw Orbot and Cubot holding the capsule.

"Yar! That'd be two more alien lubbers for me mateys! Arr!" Cubot said.

"Stop talking and let's get outta here before Mark goes nose hair on us." Orbot said.

The two robots zoomed away as fast as they could.

"We need to get them home!" Lilo said.

"Agreed." Mark said.

"Ih." Stitch added.

Meanwhile…

Ari and Jake were trying with all their might to break free of the capsule.

"Don't even think about breaking free." Hamsterviel's voice said from Cubot. "You're about to become the power sources for my new ultimate weapon!"

Orbot and Cubot reached Gantu's ship and dumped the two into what looked like a generator. Hamsterviel was there in the fur, observing the whole thing.

"I'll harness your life energy for my new weapon and then nothing will stop me! I know I say that every time, but really this time nothing will stop me!"

"Uh, boss?" Orbot said nervously.

"What?" He noticed four figures standing before him. "626 and his friends?"

"Who are you calling 'nothin'?" Mark asked in a cocky way.

"Huh?" Cubot asked, dumbfounded.

"Since the boss said 'nothing will stop me,' and Mark and the others are going to stop him, it's like the boss was calling them 'nothing.'" 625 explained.

"Great! I thought nobody would get that!" Mark said.

"Fine. If you're so smart 625, you take care of this! Release the Big Boy! At least I know he won't screw things up! Hasta la bye, bye, suckers!" Hamsterviel leaped into the teleporter and vanished. A door opened to reveal a giant hulking robot.

"I'll deal with this guy." Mark said. "You guys find Ari and Jake."

"Got it." Lilo said.

Inside the generator…

Ari and Jake were starting to feel weak as their life was being drained.

"Hey, Ari."

"Yeah, Jake?"

"I just wanted to say something before we die."

"What's that?"

Jake kissed Ari on the lips. When he released the kiss, she was surprised.

"You feel that way about me?"

"Yeah."

Ari returned the kiss to Jake. Suddenly they heard smashing from the outside. They looked and saw Stitch poke his head in.

"Hi." Stitch said delivering his trademark greeting.

"Stitch!" Ari said. He pulled the two out just before the self-destruct mechanism activated. Suddenly the ground shook more violently.

"Oh no!" Mark who just beat the robot said. "Reality as you know it is about to be destroyed! Ari! Jake! Into the Warp Ring!"

Ari and Jake obeyed and found themselves back in Ari's bedroom. They looked at their hands and saw they were still experiments.

"Oh, no! We didn't turn back into humans!" Jake moaned.

"It's probably because we were brought back a different way." Ari theorized.

"Where's Mark?" Jake asked, looking around. They then heard talking from downstairs. They peeked from the stairs to see a familiar-looking human talk to Ari and Jake's parents. He had light green-and-white hair and wore the same clothes Mark had.

"…And so they won't be back for at least a few months." Mark finished.

"Thank you for telling us. We were so worried for them." Ari's mother said.

Mark then walked outside. Ari and Jake went back into Ari's room and leaped out the window in front of Mark.

"What did you tell them?" Ari asked.

"I told them you were at a special school that calls for your… unique skills."

"And they bought that?" Jake asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep."

"So what now?" Ari asked.

"You two are coming with me to my home on Mobius. I need to have you two examined by an expert."

Mark activated his Warp Ring again.

"But won't we cause your reality to collapse as well?" Jake asked.

"Unlikely, once we find a way to remove the spores, you'll be as good as new."

"But what about Lilo? And Stitch? And Angel?" Ari asked worriedly.

"They're all fine now. When I took you two back here, everything returned to normal."

Ari and Jake then stepped though the Warp Ring.

"Hey, what about Hamsterviel?" Ari asked.

"I left him a little Christmas present. Let's just say his ship's gonna go out with a 'bang.'" Mark grinned mischievously.


	14. Back to Normal, Sort of

After spending several hours being examined by Mark, Ari and Jake were relaxing on the couch in the lounge area of Freedom HQ.

"Alright, the spores have been removed from you for good, guys." Mark said.

"So we can go home now?" Ari asked.

"Getting there." Suddenly Mark was interrupted by a beeping from his wristwatch.

"This is Mark." He said, answering it.

"Mark," A female voice aid.

"What is it, Nikita?"

"I think I found a lead on Eggman's whereabouts. Maybe he's got my brother with him."

"I'll check it out."

Mark hurried into the lab and got a small remote-like device. He handed it to Ari.

"That'll take you home. Just tap in these coordinates…" He punched in four buttons and a portal opened in front of them.

"By the way, you two can come back here anytime you wish. Just push the 'Mobius' button, and you can visit me anytime."

"That's great, Mark." Jake said. "Thanks." He then looked at Ari. "Ready to go?"

She nodded. The two stepped through the portal. When they came out, they were in front of Ari's house. They then noticed that they turned human again.

"We're back to normal." Jake said. "You know, Ari, after that whole adventure do you want to… go out with me sometime?"

"I'd love to."

"How about tonight?"

"Tonight sounds perfect."

"So the movies at 6?"

"What's showing?"

"You'll see."

Later…

Ari arrived at the movie theater, where she found Jake waiting for her. To her surprise, the movie showing was Lilo and Stitch.

"It was a wonderful journey indeed." Ari said, looking at the stars.

Meanwhile in space…

Hamsterviel was drifting in deep space in his damaged escape pod. He foolishly failed to realize the bomb on his ship, which landed him in this mess.

"Faster you idiots! Faster!" He shouted at Orbot and Cubot. "Put your backsides into it!"

"Technically we don't have backsides, boss." Orbot said.

"I DON'T CARE!" Hamsterviel screamed. "Now hurry! I already have my revenge planned out, and this time I will not fail!"

"Of course you won't boss. Of course you won't." Orbot said, bowing his head. "On the bright side, a certain someone got their voice back."

"I feel like my old self! All I wanna do is talk, talk, talk! Hey remember when we chasing those little alien things? What's up with those guys? They sure were funny looking! Smelled good though."

"What I wouldn't give for the maddening silence of space right now." Hamsterviel grumbled.

"Oh, I wish we had some sushi! Oh hey, I heard they started using fish. Bummer, we did bring anything with us! Not that we could eat it since we're robots but we could have looked at it! I love looking at stuff! I love stuff! By the way did we destroy Mark this time? Duh, sorry, dumb question! We never destroy Mark!"

Hamsterviel covered his ears as the robot rambled on and on and on and on….


End file.
